Winter Wrap Up: Plant Team

[Ashton]

Twilight turned, a hint of frustration and anger in her own voice as well "That's not part of the wrap-up!" she said "You might as well have said that if the changlings invaded right now we couldn't' use magic to fight them" she sighed "Sorry, applejack, you know Magic's always been just, well, part of me, I use it without even thinking" she smirked "Besides that cloud is out of bounds" she tried to make a joke but not succeeding too well "Good to know where your priorities lay" she said, when AJ commented about the hole in the farm instead of either (1) the fact that there was a rogue storm brewing that could turn into something very dangerous, and (2) Twilight nearly blasted herself into next tuesday had she not dodged the reflected spell quick enough. Of course she also realized that AJ had a lot of her mind right now...

Twilight Frowned at the pony who made a joke about the clouds not allowing her to use magic "I don't think you understand" she said "That is a rogue magical storm from the everfree, It might bring us rain, it might bring us hail, it might decide to be a blizzard and completely undo the entire wrapup, or it might even turn into a tornado and wreck half of ponyville!" her mane was starting to frazzle now as panic began setting in "I have to stop it before anypony gets hurt!" with a flash she vanished

There was the deep rumble of thunder and several flashes of light on, in, and near the storm, some were clearly lightning, some were clearly Twilight, and some it was impossible to tell.

There was another flash and Twilight reappeared, now looking very frazzled, charred in places, and one stray lock of her tail had smoke rising from a small fire that she hadn't noticed "Anypony else have any ideas?" she asked awkwardly

[RedCedar]

Red Cedar

Red Cedar looked suitably rebuked, even sheepish, as his first words with a Princess of the land hadn't gone very well at all. It was true enough that he didn't know anything about magic, and only somewhat about the Everfree forest and its strange occurrences. He looked away again and went back to ploughing.

Watching her disappear, however, and the sudden flashes overhead, made him look up and take notice again, and when Twilight reappeared on the field smouldering, any sense of propriety went out the window again. Quickly shrugging off the yoke of the plough, he galloped over to her and, as respectfully as he could make it look, stepped on the end of her tail hairs, crushing out the flames before they could spread any further.

Since there was no way he could have made that in any way subtle, especially after what she had said to him earlier, he just lowered his head. "With all due respect, Your Highness," he said, "getting yourself hurt wouldn't be any better. I'm not entirely familiar with Ponyville's Wrap-Up procedures but isn't there an entire Weather Team flying around that you could call on?" Still looking at her hooves, he lifted his own from her tail, now that the fire was good and out.

[Blueblood]

"We do, and they're good to watch, but lower down the ranks. They won't be making the top tier any time soon!"

There was always that, Might had to admit. If one wanted to see the real science of the sport, it was hard when a pony couldn't get it locally. Still, the sportspony's code was strong in the cricketer, and he had to speak up. "Oh I say, don't you know, that's pretty rough! Not that I'm not flattered on behalf of my local club, but it's a little hard to expect your own to go to the top if nopony expects it of them."

That was how it worked, wasn't it? You pulled for your team, through good years and bad, and they in turn would do their hardest for the buff and blue, or whatever their colors were. You might admire the skills of another team, as one admires a rival, but being a fan meant something more than that, surely.

Such trivialities were jarred from the colt's mind, however, by the magical explosion that created the huge crater in the middle of the field, just in front of his plow! Might reared up, planting his hooves and nearly wrecking his plow as he tried to keep himself from adding to the injury total. Apparently, this was from a gathering magical storm; and there didn't seem to be any pegasi near to clear it out.

When the Princess called for suggestions, the earth pony said the first thing that came into his mind. "Well, wind blows clouds away; we could all make giant fans, and..." Even as he said it, he felt how foolish it must sound, and trailed off, trying to tuck his head into his neck like a turtle.

It was here that his friend Wordsworth Psmith came to his rescue. The lavender unicorn had been silent due to strong feeling for the past few minutes, but now a comrade needed support, and the honor of the Psmith eustachian was at stake. "I do believe, comrade Batsman, that is a workable solution. It only requires that we take the canvas from over the tops of these plows and stretch it over a frame. Then, the earth ponies can give some vigorous waves, generating the working zephyrs to send these clouds packing for the horizon. At any rate, it will make a start, and in the meantime the unicorns can work on filling the unsightly hole in the fields." Psmith demonstrated his distaste for such asymmetry by flicking a speck of soil from his jacket sleeve. "The first donation to the cause." He solemnly intoned.

[DerpRavener]

Well it only made sense, 'Spring Breeze' had to suppose. As odd as she found some of their practices, ponies never seemed self destructive, and if the town insisted on something hazardous presumably it wouldn't still be around now, one way or the other. Still, it sounded like it was well managed all the same, resulting in nothing more than minor or occasional injuries. Not the most interesting answer perhaps, but this was a case where boring was better.

The false pegasus opened her mouth to respond to Applejack's question, but stalled when she realized she wasn't entirely sure. She hadn't spent any extended amounts of time outside the hive until the invasion, and the hive interior wasn't directly effected by seasons. It made for a peculiar answer, but it would have to do. “We...didn't really. Or at least not to my knowledge. Most of the town was built into the landscape in such a way that weather wasn't usually an issue, and then we generally kept stockpiles that would last us until winter left on its own.” Technically longer, the stockpiles weren't tied to seasons in any way. “This is the first time I've ever been this involved in changing seasons. I have to say, it's kinda fun.” It sounded like Flora was in a similar situation, this being her first time in a Ponyville Winter Wrap Up as well.

[SunsetSombra]

Things had gotten a little awkward for Mac - one moment, he's dealing with casually doing his part of the ploughing, tending to the soil and making everything suitable for the next part of the process, when he suddenly finds himself being saddled with a rather flustered looking Stallion - he didn't wanna question AJ's position on the matter, but he couldn't help but feel a little uncertain as to just how this was going to make his life easier now that he had a pony sat on his back.

Still, this was how life could turn out sometimes, and Macintosh simply mentally shrugged it off as he resumed his work - he looks over his shoulder at the affected pony and gave a small eyebrow raise, curiously looking at him. " ya'all okay up there? " he asks, chuckling slightly. " Ah'll try not to go too fast for ya...wouldn't wanna catch you unawares! "

Considering that everything else was still very much on schedule, and he had very little reasons to stop and do anything else for the current moment, he resumes his task, albeit a little more cautiously to ensure that he didn't interfere with the eager seed spreading that was being attended to by his unexpected rider!

[Pretzelparty]

“Yeah, I’ll be right on over.” Thus did Mr. Rich started to make his way to the kitchen area, with the unfamiliar stallion in tow; "I haven't seen you around these parts, sir. You've ever been to Ponyville before?"

The stallion he'd picked seemed nice enough, in fact he seemed almost eager once brougham mentioned Granny Smith. Filthy took off to the kitchen with his new bearded acquaintance at his side. Brougham's ear's perked slightly once Filthy posed this question, "Not really. Although in my line of work I'm required to know a bit about what goes on in it. Never been here up close though. My daughter comes here quite often if I remember right, I was hoping to say hello at some point."the stallion's strong voice betrayed a minuscule hint of disappointment in it's tone upon admitting the last part.

Soon Brougham's voice returned to it's normal subdued manner,"Ponyville is a very peacef-- perhaps peaceful isn't the most accurate of terms... but the town is quite nice. It's nice to be in a place where it doesn't rain so often." Soon the two managed to make it to the kitchen where they were once again greeted by Granny Smith, still hard at work.

"Oh, ya brought some more help! Good job!" the elderly mare neighed with delight. "Hello thar Filthy Rich! So glad y'all kin join us! We gotta big job ahead of us cause we're gonna have a whole lot of hungry mouths ta feed come lunchtime. We're gonna be makin' enough sandwiches ta feed an Army!"

"Alright troops, listen up! We gotta important mission today! Make sandwiches, give out apples, serve soup and do it all with smiles on our lips and songs in our hearts! The entire Plant Team's countin' on us, so we'll have to work and work hard ta git this job done! Are ya with me, troops? I said, ARE YA WITH ME???"

"I wonder where she got that helmet." was the first thought that went through the stoic stallion's mind. He didn't really bother dwelling on how miss smith came about that helmet since he had other things to focus on now, namely lunch.

This mare sure knew how to speak Brougham's language, it was almost suspicious if Brougham didn't know the apple family's reputation. Rather than the extremly enthusiastic Granny msith probably predicted, Brougham nodded sternly and spoke in his usual authoritative tone,"Here, Here." before glancing at Filthy as if to ask the same of him.

[CaptainMcDerp]

Peachy managed to get his coltish giggling under control and listened as Soft Paw described the shop. Despite the clutter it apparently had, Golden Treasures sounded like something he wouldn't mind paying a visit to. While Peachy gravitated more towards the prim and extravagant shops of the Canterlot marketplace, he couldn't deny the valuable items Golden Treasures must have accumulated.

After a short pause, Soft Paw ended his sentence with a casual invite to visit the shop sometime. Peachy nodded with a grin. "Indeed I shall. I might even have a few things I'd like the sell there."

Somepony suddenly caught Peachy's eye he somehow failed to notice before. Princess Twilight. He kept himself up to date on the royalty of Equestria and was rather surprised when he heard that a new princess emerged. It would have been a delight to see her in the flesh, but the first thing he noticed the princess say sent him into a tizzy.

"I don't think you understand. That is a rogue magical storm from the everfree, It might bring us rain, it might bring us hail, it might decide to be a blizzard and completely undo the entire wrapup, or it might even turn into a tornado and wreck half of ponyville!"

What!? For an alicorn princess to be this concerned it must be serious. Very serious. He was so fixated on Twilight's warning that his hoof planted right on top of Soft Paw's tail. Peachy gasped, dropping the watering tin in the process, and immediately lifted his hoof. "Oh dear! I am terribly sorry." He quickly picked the watering can up before too much water could spill out. "Are you alright?"

[SteelEagle]

Twilight was a worry wart who was second only behind Rarity for the amount of dramatics she could summon up to describe any given situation. All it was was a wild storm from the Everfree, one that the Weather team should have been able to bat away from coming towards Ponyville. Yeah it was harder to make it work on the edge of the Everfree but the weather team managed to do it anyway. They couldn't control the weather in the Everfree but they could influence it around the edge of the forest just enough to keep the nastiest bits of weather away from civilization. Obviously long range patrols had missed it and now it was close by. It was not a matter of great drama or concern but here was Twilight losing every bit of her mind over it. It would be sorta funny if the Princess wasn't snarky and rude about it and completely no-sold any amount of care regarding the damage she had done. Without heeding any sense of logic Twilight zapped herself into the storm. Then some zaps happened. Then she zapped back, looking like she had taken a lot of zaps.

Charred and smoking with a few strands of her mane floating in the air unnaturally, Applejack was worried about Twilight. Then she spoke and once Applejack realized her friend was all right, she knew she had too settle it.

"Ah have an idea," Applejack began before grabbing her friend, hugging her, and then shaking her gently but sternly as she started, "GO. GET. THE. WEATH. ER. TEAM. GO. GET. THE. WEATH. ER. TEAM. GO GET THE WEATHER TEAM. TWILIGHT, GO GET THE WEATHER TEAM!" Applejack spoke far more loudly than she would have liked but she didn't know if Twilight could hear a lick post-storm.

"Yer mah friend and a mighteh Princess an' all, but yer not a weather professional," Applejack cuffed a few strands of Twilight's mane back in place before giving her a re-assuring pat on the back, "so go get those professionals and bring 'em to tha storm. An' after that, go back to city hall with tha rest of yer staff and relax. You look like you've been through a storm!" Applejack couldn't help but laugh at her awful joke, focused back on her teammates.

Flora wasn't used to something like this. Neither was Spring. But that is where the similarities ended. For Flora, magic was used and that likely made things a whole heck of a lot easier. Applejack opposed it based on tradition's sake and little else. She knew it was more effective, as Flora confirmed subtly. It was good to get stock done early which Applejack couldn't agree with more. What was more interesting was Spring's answer. Now here was the opposite of the spectrum, where no magic at all was used and ponies didn't bother changing the seasons. That boggled Applejack's mind to such a degree that she couldn't even fathom it. The one thing that meant for certain is that he didn't grow up in Equestria. No place in Equestria existed where the pegasi didn't control the weather, the way the town was built and where and why not mattering on the slightest. It just wasn't how Equestria worked. So he had to have lived outside Equestria, but where? It would explain a whole heck of a lot about his social awkwardness.

"Well Flora, Ah'm mighty glad yeer spending yer time with us then. Can't say Ah don't blame places that use magic for it. Probably makes it all a bunch faster. Always seemed like cheatin' though ta me. Best just use good ol' fashion horsepower ta get tha job done, if ya ask me. And ya did when you decided to come here!" Applejack finished with a laugh, shaking out the last seed in her bag. They were just about done with this task, finally.

"Alright everypony! WHEN YOU REACH THE END, TAKE A FIFTEEN MINUTE BREAK. THE NEXT TASK IS A REAL DOOZY!" She bellowed out, crumpling her seed bag and tossing into her saddlebag. Recycling, she could make good use out of it. Now to Spring Breeze.

"Spring Breeze...didn't grow up in Equestria, Ah take it then? Ah guess it makes sense since Ah couldn't imagine Equestrians doin' whatcher family did. Where'd ya grow up, if you don't me askin'?" Applejack asked, eyes accusatory without meaning to be as she wiped the sweat off of her brow and monitored the teams coming in.

[Ashton]

For a moment, Twilight just stared at them, She opened her mouth, about to retort about all the books she'd read, but then she shook her head, sighed, and nodded "Yeah, you're all right, I should go get Rainbow and her team, I just..." she broke off but managed a slightly sad smile "We'll talk about this later, Applejack" she said " Celestia knows, I need to tak about it" she said with a humorless chuckle "Good luck, and if you need me, I'll do anything I can to help" she smiled and in a flash she was gone

[Bellosh]

Filthy Rich felt for this stallion; evidently, the other also had a strong-willed daughter if that faltering voice indicated anything. Mr. Rich had to be good at picking up on these vocal cues of course; his livelihood as owner of Rich’s Barnyard Bargains depended on figuring out the true thoughts of his customers. Smiling, the businesspony engaged in more small talk; “So where do you come from sir? I’d think Fet Loch, except that you don’t speak with one of their accents. I don't think any place in Equestria is as rainy as Fet Loch; I experienced it for myself last summer.”

Once he received his marching orders of the hour from Granny Smith, Filthy Rich indulged the elderly’s desire to play the Army Commander; “Yes ma’am!!!” Noticing the other stallion’s gaze upon him, Filthy smiled as he turned to give the visitor a nod.

[DerpRavener]

“Er...I...” 'Spring Breeze' was caught off guard by the question, asked as she was detaching herself from the plow. That she thought it was a perfectly reasonable question, albeit one she couldn't afford to give a straight answer to, made her all the most frustrated at herself for not having an answer prepared.

The false pegasus wracked her brain for a plausible answer, but she was never that good of a liar, and Applejack's apparent glare shut down what little she'd come up with.

'Spring Breeze' looked off into the distance, her expression a mixture of poorly concealed fear and shame. “...You're right, I'm not from Equestria. I'd rather not say more than that though. It's safer that way, for everypony. You, me...them...” She trailed off, torn between wanting to give a satisfying answer while not wanting make this particular confession.

She turned toward the orange earth pony with a serious expression. “Applejack...I like you, but I just don't trust you enough tell you any more, yet.” 'Spring Breeze' looked away again. “...Sorry.”

She turned to walk toward the edge of the field. She needed a break. The conversation had taken a turn for the uncomfortable, and her thoughts were already moving faster than she could keep track of them. “...I'm gonna take a breather, I'll be back in a few minutes.”

[PyroBlaze]

Flora watched as Applejack spoke to the Princess, telling her to get the weather team. The alicorn looked like she had been through a storm. Flora hadn't been watching when the alicorn actually had gone through a storm, so she didn't know. After Applejack had finished speaking to her, and Flora finally heard her name was Twilight, she disappeared to go get the weather team.

Applejack then started speaking to Flora, and she opened up again now that Twilight was gone. She listened as the farm mare spoke, saying she was glad that Flora was there before talking about her thoughts on magic use during this time of the year. Flora smiled as she kept watering, getting a little worried as she went along that she wouldn't have enough water. Thankfully, Applejack just planted their last seed, and Flora had just enough water to finish up.

Spring wasn't from Equestria? From where then? Applejack had asked the same question, essentially, out loud, but Spring didn't seem to want to discuss it at all. Then Spring unhooked herself from the plow and walked off, saying she needed a breather. Flora thought about following the Pegasus, but decided to give her her space instead. Having finished with her watering, Flora looked around at the progress of the other teams. They all seemed to be doing well.

"It p-probably is more e-efficient. As I s-said, I've only e-experienced this once back home, so it's a little hard to c-compare to this. You're r-right though, I think getting down to work is better than magic-ing everything done. Especially when you talk about planting." Flora said, responding to what Applejack had said earlier. "I trust you, Applejack. You're a n-nice pony." Flora added, looking over to the farm mare.

[RedCedar]

Red Cedar

Red Cedar took a deep breath as the Princess disappeared in a flash of light and a wisp of smoke. Evidently his etiquette needed a lot of work, even if it came to helping one in danger of getting their tail singed or worse. Luckily, it seemed Applejack had a lot more experience putting out flaming Princesses, as it were, since Twilight listened to her a lot more readily than him, even though he'd had the same suggestion.

And, now he was behind. Nodding to Applejack, he quickly trotted back to the plough he'd left in the field and put the yoke back on. Glancing over his shoulder to Soft Paw and Peachy, he quickly said, "Sorry, guys. I'll try and get us on break as soon as possible," before steeling his muscles and his gaze again and pulling as steadily and as quickly as he could through the rest of his assigned rows.

[Smartbrony]

Soft Paw let out a yelp as Keen's hoof stepped on his tail.

"Oh dear! I am terribly sorry. Are you alright?"

It was nice to see that he at least cared about Soft Paw. "Yeah, I'm fine." Soft Paw said, wincing as he picked up his tail to avoid any further injury. "But what about you? Are you okay? You seem really distracted."

"Sorry, guys. I'll try and get us on break as soon as possible,"

Soft Paw hadn't even realized they'd stopped! He'd just been watching the plow out of the corner of his eye to gauge how fast it was moving. He would have had more of his attention on the task at hand, but he was looking to the left so as to engage Keen in polite conversation. Of course, this also means his missed whatever Keen had been gawking at, and where Red Cedar had been. Soft Paw took a look around to see what he'd been missing, but he didn't see too much. There was a slightly smoldering crater, and some kind of storm brewing, but other than that nothing seemed too special. He just didn't understand ponies sometimes.

[Mojo]

Granny Smith nodded with approval of the responses from her 'troops.'

"Alrighty then! Time ta make more sandwiches! The soup I got cookin' out in the kettle'll take some time to finish, so till then, all three of us kin git a whole buncha sandwiches made an' ready ta give out! Please foller me back to the kitchen!"

Moving with unusual swiftness, Granny Smith pointed at the table as she removed her Army helmet and put her green tinted visor back on.

"Ok, I'll deal out the sandwiches while the two of you wrap'm up! Plenty of sandwich baggies on either end of the table. The key is speed! If'n y'all kin wrap'm as fast as I kin deal'm out, we'll have all the sandwiches done in no time! Ready? Well, ready er not, here we go!"

Having the sliced bread and other ingredients with the precision of a veteran card dealer, Granny Smith proceeded to 'deal out' a table of completed sandwiches with the same method she had used previously. On the table sat 48 perfectly constructed Beet and Barley sandwiches.

"Now guys, kindly wrap'm all up, put'm in the baskets besides ya an' I'll get ready ta deal out another round of sandwiches! If'n we do this here right, we'll have plenty enough sandwiches fer the whole group oncest they git here AND plenty ta send out ta all our troopers in the field too!"

[Lux]

Seeing that those ponies seeding the lands were ok, Carrot continued on her task by sowing her seeds in the correct area. She heard the distant rumble of thunder and turned towards where she saw a big mass of storm clouds heading towards town.

"Wow, that's going to be a doozy of a doenpour. I better get back to get another seed bag before the rains start."

With her seed bag now empty she was about to head back to get another from the well-organized pile when suddenly....

KaBlam!

The earth shook as a bolt of purple magic suddenly struck the ground inches away from the cream colored mare, leaving a crater sized hole in the field. In her shock Carrot Top ended up tripping over a rock and tumbling into the muddy crater.

"Ow my head," she said as she tried to reorient herself. She tried standing but in a cry of pain collapsed to the ground again. There was something wrong with her hoff, and now she couldn't even attempt to get out of the hole she sat in.

"Somepony, anypony! Help!"

[Pretzelparty]

“So where do you come from sir? I’d think Fet Loch, except that you don’t speak with one of their accents. I don't think any place in Equestria is as rainy as Fet Loch; I experienced it for myself last summer.”

“Yes ma’am!!!”

"Alrighty then! Time ta make more sandwiches! The soup I got cookin' out in the kettle'll take some time to finish, so till then, all three of us kin git a whole buncha sandwiches made an' ready ta give out! Please foller me back to the kitchen!"

"Ok, I'll deal out the sandwiches while the two of you wrap'm up! Plenty of sandwich baggies on either end of the table. The key is speed! If'n y'all kin wrap'm as fast as I kin deal'm out, we'll have all the sandwiches done in no time! Ready? Well, ready er not, here we go!"

"Now guys, kindly wrap'm all up, put'm in the baskets besides ya an' I'll get ready ta deal out another round of sandwiches! If'n we do this here right, we'll have plenty enough sandwiches fer the whole group oncest they git here AND plenty ta send out ta all our troopers in the field too!"

After Granny Smith finished giving her instructions she once again showcased her surprising speed and precision by dealing out an entire table's worth of sandwiches. Brougham wasted no time getting some bags and beginning to wrap the food up for the volunteers working the fields to enjoy for the time being. His hooves swiftly and precisely moving and capturing each sandwich in the bag without damaging their contents.

Whether Filthy had started his half of the work or not, Brougham was still determined to answer his question from before. He was not a fet loch native, but he had been there before on assignment as a member of the royal guard;The Rain there put the climate of his own home to shame. WHile still focusing on his sandwich bagging he spoke once more,"I'm actually from Trottingham. It rains a fair bit there but nowhere near as often as ... Fet ...Loch." the stallion's word's slowed down, as his ears perked at the faint sound of screaming.

"Somepony, anypony! Help!"

"Sir, Ma'am. Just to warn you, we may need to clear space. It could be nothing, but I think somepony may be hurt." Setting down his bag and sliding them in Rich's Direction, THe general bolted out the door with surprising speed.

Pinpointing where the voice came from he saw a pretty large hole in the ground when he looked into the crater, he saw that the an orange maned mare had not only fallen... but had badly damaged her hoof as well. Jumping in at and angle and carefully sliding his way into the crater he extended his hoof to the mare in need, "Ma'am. I need you to take my hoof and I'll pull you on to my back. We need to have your leg looked at." he said in a stern, almost commanding tone. If Carrot top did indeed take the general's hoof he'd proceed to carry her out of the crater and back towards the farmhouse and to the kitchen.

[Blueblood]

All in all, Might was more grateful than anything else that his idea had not been taken up. As appreciative as he was of his friend's support, he would have felt even more foolish having to actually go through with waving a giant fan. He shrugged, acquiescing to Applejack, "Weather team, right-o. Best idea, you're right." He set his shoulders to pull the plough again... or would have, only the crater was in front of him.

"I think, comrade, you will find that us earthbound ponies have our own special tasks as well." Psmith now pulled even with Might; between Cashmere's injury and the crater, progress had halted, leaving him no more seeds to water. "I would lend my aid, but I have started to worry that I may be invisible and in audible, to all sights a hovering magical watercan, a beneficent fairy bestowing life-giving drops."

It's likely that he would have continued in this vein for some time, were it not for the yell of pain in front of them. With alacrity one would not expect, given his usual languid attitude, Psmith made a beeline for her, though the trained officer got to her first. Moderating his pace, he arrived beside him, calling down in more mild tones. "It's quite alright, you know. We are all here to assist you, none more so than the erstwhile comrade- I haven't caught his name, but one can see by the mere form and outline his trustworthiness and reliability. The next matter after your rescue, naturally, will be filling this hole. It has a nasty disposition, and must be eliminated."

[SteelEagle]

OOC- I'm sorry. Very sorry.

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief as her friend tleported away. The important part of it was that se wou;d get the help that wa needed. One by one the problems in front of them faded from focus as Applejack allowed herself to feel like maybe this time everything would go well. Of course nothing would go perfectly in life and today this event was no exception. Spring Breeze didn't feel close enugh to Applejack to reveal more? That was fine. Applejack felt pretty awful for going ahead and presuming that she would be comfortable revealing more. It probably involved her family, which was as terrible as ten forest fires in one forest. She nodded his way and followed with a tip of the hat, her brow fastened.

"Sorry 'bout pushin' the issue. No reason ta put yerself in a bind over this," She nodded, nodding. Flora was cool and up with how things were done here in Ponyville, she couldn't help but agree. Magic being more efficient or not it was't the right way.

"Ah thjink yer a nice pony too, Flora. Gosh, Ah hope tha sanwiches are done soon. Ah'm as hungry as ten cows grazin'!"

[Bellosh]

Following Granny Smith, Filthy Rich got further instructions to wrap the sandwiches along with his Trottingham companion. About as soon as Granny made each sandwich, Filthy went to work on his assigned task. The stallion didn’t reckon how hard it would be to keep up with the old mare however. Things only got worse when the Trottingham pony bolted out on some emergency, leaving Mr. Rich to wrap the sandwiches alone. With only himself to wrap, productivity worsened as Granny finished more and sandwiches than Filthy could package and toss into separate containers for each type of product.....

[PyroBlaze]

Flora smiled again as Applejack said that she was a nice pony too. She tried to be so, and it felt good to hear it was working. Then she giggled at Applejack's words about her hunger, then fell silent as Flora's stomach rumbled, likely loud enough for anyone near her to hear, which caused her to break out into a short bout of laughter.

"I'd say I'm hungry t-too." Flora said when her laughter had died down. She looked out over Applejack's farm and saw a bearded stallion heading into the pit created by Twilight's magic. What was going on? Another stallion, the one that had been making rude assumptions about Applejack's family, had followed the first one down into the hole. Had somepony hurt themselves by falling in? She couldn't see any plants nearby that could dull the pain, which was unfortunate. She didn't want to watch anypony suffering. As soon as they cleared out of the pit, she would be right there to help fill it up.

"Umm... A-Applejack? T-there seems to be another injury. A-at least, I th-think there is." Flora said, keeping her gaze on the pit to see if they were coming out or not. She was worried for the ponies down there and hoped they could make it back up.

[Lux]

For a moment Carrot Top imagined the worst that she would be there lying in pain in that hole, maybe even through the night. Sure it was irrational, but she couldn't get it out of her mind. Then she heard the sound of a pony calling to her.

"Ma'am. I need you to take my hoof and I'll pull you on to my back. We need to have your leg looked at."

Carrot looked up to see a stallion with a beard standing there in the same crater she was in offering a helping hoof.

"Thanks," Carrot said before reaching out to him, albeit the pain from her one back leg in doing so making her wince. She didn't know how the stallion would be able to assist her in getting out of the steep sided muddy hole, but she could only hope he could.

[DerpRavener]

Nopony tried to stop 'Spring Breeze' from leaving the field. Which was a good thing, she thought. She wouldn't want anypony to see what would happen next. She couldn't afford to let that happen.

Her head snapped to the side and she paused mid-step as she heard somepony cry out for help. It appeared they'd fallen into the large hole that had suddenly appeared. The voice sounded a little panicked, however before 'Spring Breeze' had moved she spotted several others already moving toward the hole. Seeing that everything was in good hooves, she turned back the way she was walking and continued on.

It didn't take her long to reach her destination, a collection of shrubs at the edge of the field, and as soon as she did 'Spring Breeze' pushed them apart with a hoof and stepped inside. After taking a quick look around to confirm she couldn't be seen from the outside, she dropped her disguise with a flash of green.

Naj slumped to the ground, threw her hooves over her eyes and began hyperventilating, as all the pent up stress and worry that she'd been trying to keep hidden came out at once.

[Blueblood]

It had been a joke at first, but now Psmith was actually beginning to be quite curious about whether he was actually being seen or not. Normally, he didn't mind being a background observer, but if he'd accidentally discovered a way of turning invisible, he didn't want to waste the opportunity. The fact that nopony thought him worth paying attention to also entered his mind, but that could be worried about later.

He reached out his own hoof as Carrot Top took the Brigadier's. He was still outside the crater, and the walls looked steep and unstable. "If I may be of assistance?" He levitated over a stick, remarking, "This may be stretching the 'no magic rules' a bit, but otherwise I shouldn't be able to help get you out of this hole. If anypony wants to make an issue out of it, well, feel free to point them in my direction. 'There's the pony you want! Psmith, the infamous anarchist and iconoclast!' I shall bear Comrade Applejack's censure with as much dignity as I may bring to bear."

In spite of the situation, he was quite in his normal high spirits again. Things were happening, and he was where they were happening. Ennui had been banished, along with the snow.

Might, meanwhile, had disentangled himself from his plow, trying to figure out what to do now that the crater was in front of him. He was about to ask Applejack, when he noticed a mare leave the area. Who was it again... Spring Breeze, yes! Curious, he trotted after her, but she quickly dropped out of sight. The earth pony looked around him in puzzlement.

"I say, hullo? Miss Breeze, where did you go?"

[RedCedar]

Red Cedar

Red Cedar at least would go back to Stalliongrad after his first time participating in a Winter Wrap-Up and not say for one second that it was uneventful. Between magic storms, being chewed out by a Princess directly, and now an injury due to an unexpected, magically blasted crater in the field, he was wondering what could be next.

It was with quite a bit of relief that he came to the end of his assigned rows of ploughing, behind everyone else due to the events. At least Carrot Top was getting cared for, probably better than he could have done himself, as he was no medic. Finally shrugging off the yoke of the plough with a bit of a groan, he went and sat off to the side of the field, to take a rest.

Watching his cricket-playing comrade wander in search of Spring Breeze, though, he couldn't help but shake his head a bit. "Should let her be, she's had to remember enough today." he muttered to himself.